DA: Video captures Vail shooting

Investigators have stitched together a “semi-fluid” video that shows Vail murder suspect Richard “Rossi” Moreau shooting three people in the Sandbar, District Attorney Mark Hurlbert said Wednesday.

Hurlbert called it a “very critical” piece of evidence for prosecutors.

Moreau has been charged with one count of first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree murder and five other felonies stemming from a Nov. 7 shooting at the West Vail bar. Four people were shot; the shooting of one man, who was hit in the thigh, was not recorded in the video, prosecutors said.

The fatal shooting of Gary Bruce Kitching, 70, a physician from Carbondale, is included in the video, Hurlbert said.

The video, taken from multiple cameras at the Sandbar, is expected to be presented as evidence at a Jan. 27 preliminary hearing during which prosecutors will seek to establish “probable cause” that Moreau committed all eight crimes.

“There are several cameras that the bar has,” Hurlbert said. “It’s just following his actions from camera to camera.”

The video was pieced together by investigators at the Colorado Bureau of Invest­igation, he said.

“We just got it today, so I haven’t seen it,” said Dana Christiansen, a public defender who is representing Moreau.

Thousands of pages

The preliminary hearing was supposed to occur Wednesday but was delayed after public defenders asked for more time. County Judge Katharine T. Sullivan agreed to delay the hearing.

Moreau’s lawyers have cited the numerous documents they must review to prepare for the hearing. Prosecutors have turned over about 1,500 pages and 24 CDs of materials to defenders.

Hurlbert said Wednesday that prosecutors plan to turn over another 4,100 pages of medical reports from one of the victims, Jim Lindley, a Vail man who was critically injured after being shot four times.

At the Jan. 27 hearing, prosecutors expect to call three witnesses: Lt. Greg Daly, of the Avon Police Department, who was among the first responders at the Sandbar; Detective Justin Dill, of the Vail Police Department, the lead investigator in the case; and Dr. Robert Kurtzman, a forensic pathologist who performed the autopsy on Kitching.

Civilian clothes

If probable cause is established, the case would be moved to District Court, where Judge R. Thomas Moorhead would preside over the case.

Sullivan approved Wednesday a request from defenders that Moreau be allowed to wear civilian clothes rather than prison garb during his appearances. Lawyers cited photos of Moreau in an orange jail jumpsuit that have been printed on the front pages of local newspapers.

“Constantly appearing before the court in jail clothing and in any form of restraint negatively affects Mr. Moreau’s credibility with the public from which a jury will be selected,” defenders wrote in a filing with the court.